Long-time Fraser Valley marijuana crusader John Conroy is finalizing a lawsuit accusing Ottawa of infringing on the rights of medical pot users and growers.

He and a handful of other lawyers working on the lawsuit to be filed in Federal Court within weeks have reviewed more than 3,000 victim impact statements from across the country to pick the 15 best representatives.

Conroy says the new Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations recently adopted by Health Canada violate several sections of the constitution. In particular, he claims the radical changes introduced by Ottawa to end home-growing and designated production will unduly restrict the safe access by patients to their medication.

“The suit has taken longer to frame than expected,” Conroy said.

“Still, we’re going to be looking for injunctive relief so that after March 31 — when the new rules come into effect — the status quo is maintained until after the court ruling so there is no damage done to these people and they have a supply of medicine.”

Approved patients — 60 to 70 per cent of whom are on fixed disability pensions — are going to suffer under the new regime, Conroy explained, because they will no longer be able to grow their own medicine nor use a designated grower.

The soon-to-be-available medical marijuana will be too expensive, he added.

Under the new program that starts in the spring, patients will be forced to purchase pot from licensed producers who will distribute various strains of dried cannabis by mail for an estimated price of between $8 and $10 a gram.

Most can grow their own for between $1 and $4 a gram, Conroy said.

“Thousands and thousands of patients are approved to use more than 10 grams a day — that’s $100 a day at the new rates. No one can afford that,” Conroy said.

“We’re not asking the government to spend money and support these people. We’re just asking they be allowed to keep doing what they have been allowed to do. We think they should at the very least grandfather-in the current personal production licences.”

As of Dec. 31, under the old Marihuana Medical Access Regulations, there were more than 28,000 patients with exemptions allowing them to possess and consume medical marijuana; 18,063 people had a personal-use production licence and there were 3,400 other designated producers.

There were also more than 5,000 buying pot or seeds from Health Canada and its sole supplier for the past 13 years, Prairie Plant Systems.

So far, Prairie Plant and CanniMed, its subsidiary, are the only approved licensed producers for the new system but the government is reviewing scores of other application.

One of the delays in organizing the suit, Conroy said, was sorting out whether current growers applying to become licensed producers could participate: “I thought it was a good idea for them to participate.”

He added there are other problematic concerns with the new order — compassion clubs and dispensaries remain illegal and there’s no provision for derivatives, edibles and non-smokable cannabis products.

No matter, Health Canada is creating an entirely different regulatory landscape that many believe may herald a gold rush-style medical marijuana market boom.

In a freedom-of-information request in connection with this litigation, Ottawa revealed that the total authorized annual consumption of dried cannabis as of April was more than 188,189 kg!

That’s roughly 415,000 pounds — or more than $1.5 billion at $8 to $10 a gram!

Health Canada expects that to increase dramatically so its no wonder the prospect of this new legitimate market is stirring robust commercial interest.

Cannabis has gone from being the stuff of Cheech and Chong skits to the substance of Dun & Bradstreet reports.

If their constitutional challenge is unsuccessful, Conroy said the growers will consider litigation to recover the investment they made to modify their homes or garages to grow pot.

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